December 20, 2012

McDonald Uses The Drive Thru

Even I have to admit that occasionally I use the drive thru lane at McDonald's for a quick cup of hot coffee or even a greasy cheeseburger or a tasty fish sandwich every once in a while when I am on the road and in a hurry, but I had no idea that at least one UM coach does too.

University of Miami wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator George McDonald also apparently likes the always fast and efficient drive thru lane at the fast food restaurant named after him.

Or at least the one that now apparently exists a The U?

McDonald became the first UM coach on Al Golden's staff to leave his position at Miami when he accepted the same coaching position at the University of Arkansas. New Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema who was just hired away from Wisconsin selected McDonald to join his staff.

Obviously McDonald's experience in working in and recruiting South Florida was a big factor in the hiring process. As any head coach including Bielema knows, you have to have access to the South Florida talent pipeline if you are going to win and win big in college football.

That fact alone makes all Miami coaches attractive targets to other schools across the Country. As a result, it would not be surprising if other major universities with open coaching positions came calling on other UM position coaches and coordinators during any and every off-season.

With other cash rich conferences always at the door, it is always possible that other UM coaches could be tempted to leave for something we all want in life: more money.

In the current culture that is college football that is just the nature of the beast. It is a beast that UM head coach Al Golden and the UM athletic department will have to try to tame when they can and simply understand and let go of when they can't.

As a small, private institution in the ACC, unfortunately that is reality.

Now, as for replacement candidates we like former UM WR Lamar Thomas who just so happens to be currently coaching wide receivers at Hampton University. Yeah, we like that a lot.

So Georgie took the lettuce & ran, big deal. I look at a WR coach the same way I look at a firstbasemen in baseball, any stiff can play it, just catch the ball. Well didn't we have about 50 drops this year? So I guess that's not a true statement! We will get someone just as capable as he was and it wasn't like we had any All-ACC wr's anyway. He's also not a topdog recruiter for us either, so that doesn't hurt us. Good luck and thanks! NEXT!

Just read on Canesport, where this kid we are recruiting didn't play his last 5 games in High School because he didn't want to get hurt. Say what. Michael Parker, who we are recruiting to play outside LB, stated this. It's between us an ASU. He's about 6'3 195. He wanted to make sure he would be able to play as a freshman. Not at 195 and playing OLB for us, you won't! ASU wants him at Rover and that's where he'll probably end up, in the Herb's humble opinion.

The "puff, puff pass" comment was intended for TriangleCane for the possibility of UM hiring MAGIC BENTON who TriangleCane mentioned NOT the other HS coach in question. It was not intended to imply that anyone was doing anythiong illegal just that that hire would be a HUGE surprise to everyone I think?

### The Hurricanes privately are pleased with the results of what amounts to a tight end swap in the past two days – losing Travis Johnson (ESPN’s 102nd-ranked high school prospect) and adding Beau Sandland (ESPN’s 12th best junior college prospect and No. 2 tight end).

The Hurricanes were optimistic they would get Sandland when Johnson de-committed on Tuesday but didn’t find out for sure until Sandland informed them on Wednesday morning that he was picking Miami over Nebraska.

Though UM – along with Purdue – have been considered the top candidates for Indiana-based Nate Wozniak (rivals.com’s 38th-best tight end), Sandland told canesport.com that the Hurricanes have told him that they will not recruit another tight end, beyond Sandland and previous oral commitments Standish Dobard (ESPN’s 138th-best high school prospect) and St. Petersburg-based Jeremy Kerr.

Sandland (24 catches, 267 yards last season) will compete with Asante Cleveland, Dyron Dye and David Perry and the two incoming freshmen to back up Clive Walford and play in tandem with Walford in two tight-end sets. Sandland is in line for playing time if he pans out, considering Cleveland hasn’t lived up to coaches’ expectations.

It actually would make sense for UM to move Dye back to defensive end – a position of need - but UM says it won’t seriously consider any position switches for anybody until after the New Year.

“They wouldn’t be recruiting a JUCO kid so hard if they didn’t need someone to come in and contribute,” Sandland told Canesport.
Among junior college tight ends the Canes have added over the years, the hope is Sandland is closer to Jeremy Shockey than Chase Ford.

PS: Can we stop with the Shockey comparisons already. Shockey was only the best College TE that I've seen in the last 20 years, so to put those expectations on a kid is unfair.

The Lee County Y, a leader in the community for promoting healthy living has added Certified Personal Trainer Magic Benton to their staff. In his new position, Magic Benton is responsible for ensuring that the Y’s members have a complete fitness and wellness program to participate in.

Born and raised in Miami, Mr. Benton has a B.A. in Communications from the University of Miami. He is a Certified Personal Trainer from W.I.T.S. - World Instructor Training School, and has worked in various positions at the Y since 2003.

Magic is energetic and inspirational. His previous teaching, training and athletic experience make him an asset to our program. You may recognize him from his football career as a Wide Receiver with the University of Miami, the Green Bay Packers or from his 7 years with the Florida Fire Cats.

"The Hurricanes were optimistic they would get Sandland when Johnson de-committed on Tuesday but didn’t find out for sure until Sandland informed them on Wednesday morning that he was picking Miami over Nebraska."

"The Hurricanes were optimistic they would get Sandland when Johnson de-committed on Tuesday but didn’t find out for sure until Sandland informed them on Wednesday morning that he was picking Miami over Nebraska."

As for the FIU incident, that's a LONG time off. If you listen to him since then and pay attention, he's not only learned his lesson but seemingly is thriving at his coaching position...

...else Petrino wouldn't be interested.

I like the idea of Mark Duper. He has a descent track record of offseason development (Hankerson). If he could improve the current batch like Fisch did with Morris and Harris... he'd be more than welcome in my book.

Lamar Thomas's lack of coaching experience would be my only qualm with him (a small one, at that). He bleeds UM football and has the credits to go with it.

1. I'm not at all angry with McDonald. Dude took a better paying job. He came to UM from the NFL. My only problem is the dropped passes, and that isn't totally attributable to the coach. It's hard to root against a guy who wants to move up. Fans around here still scream about Rich Rodriguez leaving WVU, and it's senseless.

2. He came to UM from the NFL, so it was logical that from a salary standpoint that he would eventually move on. No problem, and I wish him luck.

I do think it's important to have someone with at least a little NFL experience and UM ties, so here comes the elimination game:

Randal Hill. He seemed to be very comfortable in his position for the feds despite his love for the university and willingness to criticize Shannon. Doubtful.

Michael Irvin. No chance.

Brett Perriman. No clue if he's a coach or any aspirations to coach. No Chance.

Reggie Wayne. He's still in the NFL with probably the best rookie of the class. No chance.

I'd like to add some names to the list to either eliminate, or some logical candidates. Also, timeframe for replacement?

Dead period for recruiting, so don't look for to much action the next couple of weeks or at least until the U.S. Army game. If Sonny does commit, it may be a long shot for Kirkland. I can't see us taking 4 OL. We maybe only have 6 ships left.

Why did everyone become so sensative?!?! I completely understand the idea of being respectful, the idea of not spreading rumors and we are fans of the same team so negativity should be at a minimum. But, every other post is an 'apology', threat or correction.

Trolls will troll! (that's why we thank those who maintain The 'Space)
Blogs provide space to voice opinion as well as provide information.

I'm an original Miami born and raised Cane fan since the early 1970's Selmer/Elliot/Saban days and very infrequent blogger retired in N. Florida. Enjoy Canespace's info and just wanted to comment, without getting my head torn off on something that has me very concerned. Having said that, I believe in what Golden is doing, but simply put, we need more QnQ. Quality in Quantity.(duh right?)

That's SIX solid 4-Star Studs that have all De-commited (or in AJL case grades) in just the last 6 weeks. We've replaced them with a nice/decent JUCO TE that chose us over Arizona St./ Nebraska and two OLB's with ZERO Top School offers whick I doubt will be an upgrade or difference makers on Defense in 2013 (Gaines n Cain average clones). No D-Tackles or D-Ends at all. Here we go again? Guys I'm as optimistic and hopeful as any Cane fan, but we are simply not reloading, in numbers, with studs and playmakers. Those 6 guys that decommited are the types that used to line up in in masses to be Canes. And I'm really sweating the 2-DB's Burns and Carter (who are elite) on signing day as Florida, Florida St., Bama and LSU are knocking their doors down with offers.

Sorry to seem like a downer. I know about the whole Star ratings silliness. But these kids unlike when Jimmy was here are scouted and evaluated like never before. And yes, you can really tell the difference between a 2-3 star tweener compared to a 4-5 Star tweener these days. It's like having 20 First and Second Round draft picks as opposed to having 20 4-7 Round draft picks a year to build with. After looking at the above schools commit recruiting classes, they and other Top-10 Schools are just mega-stacked with BlueChip talent, 3 and 4 deep, 25-30 man classes at D-Line, O-line, Ln-Backers,D-Backs, R-Backs and W-Outs. And that's just adding to 15-20 Redshirt Freshman yearly to already solid 2-deep upper-classmen depth that currently play. And many of their Juniors will jump to the NFL as they reload year after year after year...

Well, lets hope Golden n Co. can close with some surprises, but we seem to be on the outside looking in on many of the remaining Top uncommited prospects. I just wish those 6 kids that decommited would come back into the fold and be a part of something special. It's those types of Jimmy's n Joes that make up Championship teams that we need so dearly right now.

Please, let's shut the mouths of that school up here next year. Go Canes... FINISH !

No doubt.
I guess what I was trying to ask, is who is gonna be the Duke Johnson of this class, who's gonna be the catalyst to get the others to fall in line. Now with Duke, He had a local connection with the guys that subsequently committed (Howard and Lewis). I'm thinking that either Collins, or Bryant are the catalysts for this class, SHOULD they commit.

But you know what, Sandland said something interesting on why He chose Miami. He basically said that He came here because of Morris, said something along the lines that Miami had a QB that could get Him the ball. And when you look at FSU, they have some talented prospects behind Manuel, but they don't have that body of work that Morris has. So maybe it's not a '13 recruit that has an impact on this class, maybe it's the starting QB. Just some things I'm going back and forth with...

"So maybe it's not a '13 recruit that has an impact on this class, maybe it's the starting QB."

A good philosophy, I think.

As for realism, I'm as realistic and harsh as anyone on here. Since my inception, I've railed against UM for its lack of tight end production and its failure to win a bowl game since 2006. But there is simply too much evidence which demonstrates that UM is looking up, especially since we have a QB who flat-out murders secondaries despite dropped passes.

No doubt we will have the ability to put points on the board and there should absolutely be no excuse to average around 38-40 pts a game next year. My take on the TE"S, is that, although they haven't been great, we just have sort of forgotten about them. If we startusing them the way we used too, everything else will open up. As far as those bowl losses, look who our Qb was Jabonney "INT" Harris, for three of them. He never met a team he didn't like to throw too!

OK, calm down. Keith Byant and Alex Collins will be ours. Kermit Whitfield, Jayron Kearse, and AJL are all WR's and we are LOADED at that position and would only probably take one if any in this class. AJL would be ours if not for grades. We are in position to get Coley, which some say is better than Sammy Watkins, which I would gladly take him over Kermit and Kearse.

As to your argument on 3* players vs. 4-5* players and 1st round picks vs. 4-7 round picks. Just on our team, see Eddie Johnson vs. Jalen Grimble. In the NFL, see Tom Brady vs. Ryan Leaf. THAT IS ALL

University of Miami sophomore point guard Shane Larkin has been named to the 2013 Bob Cousy Award watch list, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Thursday. Larkin is one of seven ACC point guards on the watch list.

The Cousy Award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guard in men’s college basketball. More than 80 candidates were nominated for the 2013 Bob Cousy Award.

Through eight games, Larkin is averaging 14.8 points and 4.1 assists in 35.4 minutes, while shooting 55 percent from the floor (44-of-80), 51.7 percent from 3-point range (15-of-29) and 83.3 percent from the free throw line (15-of-18).

UM better put up the money to keep Fisch, because he can flat out coach.

Posted by: LB | December 20, 2012 at 01:45 PM

Yes He can.
One thing that impressed me about Fisch last season, is that He's taking what they give Him, and He's taking what He WANTS!
And also, I like the fact that with JF's coaching, our QBs will be able to intellectualize the game in real time, check USF and NCST.

Well said Willie... Sometimes the big picture is lost. When people lump
all the star kids together. Some kids we offer we wait on some we don't.just because we offered a kid back July does not guarantee he fits our needs now. Because a kid commits somewhere else does not automatically mean we wanted him just because we are on his list.

I don't think people understand the strategy tactics that are involved in recruiting. People don't realize that coaches tell recruits to committ to other schools and then flip on NSD. That way your rival school does'nt have time to fill that position cause its too late

As to your argument on 3* players vs. 4-5* players and 1st round picks vs. 4-7 round picks. Just on our team, see Eddie Johnson vs. Jalen Grimble. In the NFL, see Tom Brady vs. Ryan Leaf. THAT IS ALL

Posted by: Willie Will in Nashville | December 20, 2012 at 02:08 PM

You serious ? Maybe Ireland should trade all the Dolphins 1st-2nd-3rd round picks the next 5 years for a slew of 4-7 rnd picks and see how that works out for him come 2017. Brady is an anomaly. Tell me the next best 19 QB's in the NFL the last ten years and then tell me where they were picked. And if Golden were to stop recruiting 4-5 star kids, he wouldn't be here long. FACT. All Top Pro teams are built with Top Picks. ALL Top College teams are built with Top Prospects. Not trying to start anything with you. I just know that all Coaches want the best players period. And hopefully some of the lesser(2-3 Star/4-7rounders) kids will develope to compliment and become stars (I'm well aware of the Reeds, Moss' and Shockeys. They are exceptions rather than the rule and were a part of teams that had Top bad ass Coached talent around them). Some do. Most don't at a high level. But give me 30 Top kids a year in recruiting classes rather than 30 average kids hoping they pan out over and over again.

Hope you're right about Bryant and Collins. But if they were such a "sure" thing, they wouldn't have decommited after "commiting" in the first place. I'd just rather not deal in the hopeful/hypothetical that they're 100% Canes. But remain hopeful they want to stay home and build something special. We need those Top-Local kids to do so.

Girard, welcome! Your first two posts were well-stated, and I share your concern. But I'm not to oworried about decommitments, for the same reason you don't count on people who might sigh with UM, I don't worry too much about the kids who change their minds all the time. WHo knows what they are really thinking. I was actually impressed that Bryant had a reason to say he decommitted, it isn't what I like to hear, but the kid is more mature than most.
And 86- thanks for another good blog- not sure what the "watch it" posts were about (and don't have time to look back to find out), but carry on, keep bringing it for us.

Its plenty of good players in the NFL that were not 1st or 2nd rounders and its plenty that were, so it can go either way

You missing my point. My point is this, for example just because me and 10 other people say that you are a idiot does not mean that you really are. So just because a recruiting service says a kid is a 3* player does not mean he really is, he could actually be 1* or 5* nobody knows till the kid actually plays in COLLEGE. Yes we want the BEST players we can get but we can't let a LABEL tell us which players to pick.

You know, it's good to know you feel the Herb's pain about all these DT'S we have verballed, LOL! But as usual we are late for a date. We should have been pounding the on the doors of every major high school DT and every JUCCO, way before now. We put all our eggs in one basket on Bryant and then it was Hooks and now it's Hardison. Al should have know after the first few games we had a levee breach! What we have coming back are stop gaps, feel-ins or whatever you want to call them. Pierre, maybe can turn into something. Grimble, does even still play, Porter's been here, what 5 years and played in 10 to 12 games, Pouty Robinson, hasn't done squat, and the rest are green-horns. We will have a million dollar offense and a 10 cent defensesive front, that can't rush the passer and can't stop the run. No freshman, is really going to make a difference, until maybe late in the season. So yes, we need JUCCO help, pronto.

It'll be interesting if we looked into a local HC to bring in as the next WR coach. He could also be the recruiting coordinator for SoFlo... The right HC can really build a Steel Fence for the state of Miami.....Chris Carter (I highly doubt) would be ideal!!!!!

Its plenty of good players in the NFL that were not 1st or 2nd rounder's and its plenty that were, so it can go either way

You missing my point.

Posted by: Willie Will in Nashville | December 20, 2012 at 04:46 PM

agreed... and I get your point about recruiting ratings clearly. But the Top kids do not go unnoticed by the Top Teams. I don't go by those stupid website ratings. I go by what kids have confirmed offers from the Alabama's, Notre Dame's, Florida's, Florida State's, LSU's, Texas', USC's, Georgia's, Oregon's, Ohio States and Oklahoma's.The recruiting sites, when those teams offer, just bump 2-star kids up to 3-stars and 3-star kids up to 4-star. And when those teams offer, as do we, we rarely if ever get any of those kids in numbers anymore. Sure we get a few here and there, but not enough and that's been our track record for far too long. Conversely, when those teams do not offer, we tend to be in the hunt for those mid-level kids. Not because Scout, Rivals, ESPN and others rate them 2-3 Stars. It's because the top programs don't want nor need them. And we have been getting 10 Top kids along with 20 mid-level projects for far to long now. While the Top teams stack 20 Top kids, that THEY evaluate, and mix in 10 mid-level kids to develop. And of course not all the top kids excel and some projects turn out nicely. But that formula, 10/20 rather than 20/10 over time will not produce and maintain the required depth year after year that is paramount to sustain Championship level Football consistently. It's Top 25-50 6-6/7-5/8-4 Football...

As for the Dolphins, they're a mess. And of course there are Gores and 3-7 rounder's that turn out to be Pro-Bowlers. And I guarantee they were Top-recruited High schoolers heading into college and really good/great College players. Also there are roughly 128 Players drafted in the 4-7 rounds yearly. Many really good players that will turn into stars. And there are 96 players taken yearly in the first 2 rounds. Of course, not all will be Pro-Bowlers, and some will be major busts but I assure you, that a far higher percentage of Top 3 round picks litter Playoff team rosters than not... The same is true with College BCS teams that do THEIR OWN evaluations, which makes them elite.

Listen Willie Will, I'm new here and I'm not trying to chap your ass on this. You seem like a cool fan, like many others here that I'd love to sit down and discuss this and other Cane topics with. It's far more productive than writing it down at the risk of being taken the wrong way or an idiot. I just consider myself a realist that has been attending Cane practices and Games on the sideline compliments of my very good friend and colleague Christ Vagotis and others since '78. This past Spring I remember going to the Spring game and listening to a few fans rage on how this Cane Defense is a group of studs and specimens will absolutely dominate in 2012 again. And I recall thinking to myself, they must be just seeing the uniforms, helmets and the U stickers on them. Because I saw a woefully average, undersized, depthless overall D-Line unit, with a few decent players, that would struggle mightily against average to good O-lines. And it pained me to think that. Having said that. I know for a fact that Coach Al Golden knows exactly what he needs and how to do it. And the very first thing to address is what's the problem and how to fix it. And there is absolutely nothing that a group of very good coaches needs to accomplish that... and that's great players, and a lot of them.

"No Bucks... No Buck Rogers" And we need more 8 and 12 Point Bucks.

Sorry if I offend. I don't mean to. I'm just irked that we get some really, really good talented kids to buy in, then waffle and now have to resell to them... Whooosh Whooosh